Speeches by Glen.

“Can I just take you back to the tax gap, the progress that you expect to make and the profile of the reduction?”

“Do you have a metric for how you are improving the way that you deal with that group of people?”

“I feel duty-bound to ask about vulnerable customers and people who are anxious. They will hear this and think, “There’s no time for me. I’m very uncomfortable adjusting to this digital world”. How can you reassure those customers who are not in that place of comfort, for whatever reason, perhaps typically because they …”

“Good luck.”

“Just before Christmas, Mr Rahman, a leaseholder in a Taylor Wimpey property, came to see me. There are 100 years remaining on his lease and a modest ground rent, but he cannot secure a sale because Taylor Wimpey will not agree to a reasonable deed of variation in relation to the ground rent provisions. He has incurred …”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his update. He is a serious and experienced politician, and I have no doubt that he always acts in the national interest. What concerns me is the gap between the coherence of NATO and its approach—the approach that he has set out that we will take if a peace agreement can be found in …”

“I welcome the partial U-turn. When I met a number of farmers on Boxing day, all 400 of them were very concerned that the next phase of this Government’s relationship with rural Britain would be a consultation on banning trail hunting. On the basis of this experience, I think that the Minister could go back to the Treas…”

“On Sunday, George Starling told me of his work as a volunteer for the Prison Fellowship with the Sycamore Tree project, which is a restorative justice scheme that has been going on for over 50 years. The scheme has been shut down, and its appeal has not been granted. It is a victim awareness and restorative justice pro…”

“I welcome the publication of the strategy, and acknowledge the Minister’s commitment over many years to get to this point—this must be a great moment for her. A few weeks ago, I visited Salisbury Soroptimists, who published “Fresh Thoughts”, a document taken from Dorset and customised for Wiltshire to give information …”

“Of main accounts?”

“Did we not have a private Member’s Bill before that went through Parliament, and then when it came to the regulator it was unimplementable? That is what happened with the private Members’—”

“That was very clear; thank you.”

“On the Consumer Credit Act, it was brought before me four or five years ago when I was Economic Secretary and we still don’t have the legislation. I get what you are asking for, but can you explain to the Committee and those watching what the problem is? Is it technical expertise? Is it the amount of resources? Is ther…”

“What does it mean in terms of increased risk appetite? How does somebody watching this grasp what you are saying, what it means for what you are prepared to enable?”

“What do we need to do to advance, then?”

“Tolerance of harm is a topic that obviously arouses strong reactions. You have called previously for an open and honest debate within the Government about tolerable harm and failure. We have previously discussed in sessions earlier this year the whole issue of metrics for that. Where do you think we are on that matter?…”

“Can I get your view, Mr Rathi, on the EU and US against London and the UK? Where do you see the driver of innovation in regulation, and what is your characterisation of what you see across those different significant competitive landscapes for the UK?”

“The point is, surely, that if somebody leaks or briefs some information that materially moves the market, while they might not personally gain they have changed market conditions against the rule of the game, which is that you make those decisions known properly to Parliament on Budget day. If nobody is accountable and…”

“You are encouraging us to come up with a view of how it all worked and make recommendations. Is that what you are saying?”

“I think that people would understand the difference between market actors getting personal or institutional financial gain, and the leaking or briefing of information that moved the markets. But if you step back and look at what this says about the UK, this was a massive failure collectively. The head of the OBR resign…”